Sunday, January 19, 2003

a primer: The Qur'an, Islam, and Muslims

it's difficult to tell people what Islam is. It is actually far easier to tell people what Islam isn't! For reference, here is a primer to some of my posts on Islam which deal with several misconceptions and issues. It's by no means exhaustive or complete but it should help guide the overall debate. I intend this post as a more general reference and to that end I invite other bloggers to contribute links, with which I will update the post accordingly.

And I highly recommend the teachings of Ali AS, the chosen successor of the Prophet SAW according to Shi'a belief. Ali is also highly regarded by Sunnis as their fourth Caliph. A collection of his sermons, titled Nahjul Balagha (Peak of Eloquence), is available on line for free, as well as in traditional printed version on Amazon.com.

Finally, I also recomend the book, Mullahs on the Mainframe (available from Amazon as well), for a description of my own religious community as an example of how Muslims have embraced modernity and freedom without sacrificing their belief or practice.